WA’s City Of Stirling Powers Ahead With EV Adoption

The City of Stirling has taken delivery of its first four electric vehicles, with another three to join them in the not-too-distant future.

Situated in the northern suburbs of Perth, the City of Stirling local government area covers 104 square kilometres, incorporates 30 suburbs including Karrinyup and Tuart Hill, and is home to around 226,000 people as at Census 2021.

In 2019/20, emissions from electricity used in Council operations accounted for almost two-thirds of the organisation’s total emissions. The next largest emissions source were fleet vehicles and gas, accounting for around one-third of the City’s total operational emissions.

In 2020, Council kicked off community consultation on a proposed Sustainable Energy Action Plan; which would see the organisation sourcing all its electricity from renewables and reducing overall corporate carbon emissions 70 per cent by 2030. The plan was endorsed in 2021.

Part of the plan involves electric vehicles; and in August last year the City announced its Parking Services fleet of hybrid vehicles¹ would be replaced with EVs in the 2022/2023 replacement program.

The first of those vehicles – four Hyundai Ioniq electric cars – have arrived and will go straight into service. One will be trialled by Mayor Mark Irwin (it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it). There are more to come, with three Hyundai Kona EVs due for delivery in April 2024.

Charging Up With Solar Energy And Wind Power

“This action plan notes that a key strategy to meet these targets is to transition the City’s fleet to EV and power them with renewable energy,” said Mayor Irwin. ” In line with Council’s recent decision to escalate the purchase of solar panels, an increase from three vehicles to seven in this financial year’s budget further confirms our intent to reduce emissions.”

Council has already racked up a bunch of solar panels, with more than a dozen grid-connected systems in place. In May this year, councillors also gave the green light to a $600,000 investment in solar installations in the 2022/23 draft budget; which was almost twice the amount allotted in the previous budget. This move was to ensure Council’s program involving 24 significant solar power system installations is complete by 2030.

Council also entered into a three-year renewable electricity Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in December last year, joining dozens of other WA local governments in a buyers group sourcing clean electricity from the 222 MW Collgar, 35.4 MW Albany and 79 MW Emu Downs wind farms.

Strong Community Support

Council’s intentions of powering ahead with its renewable energy and emissions reductions ambitions have been greeted with strong approval within the City of Stirling community. A survey indicated 92 per cent supported the 100 per cent renewable electricity target by 2030, and 81 per cent supported the 70 per cent carbon emissions reduction target by the same year.

City of Stirling’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) 2020 – 2030 can be found here.